Visit Our America

Paducah, Kentucky, sets quietly at the junction of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. The town doesn’t do much these days, but that’s not to imply that it’s dead or even dying. It’s just that a town that once was an important river shipping center and one of the gateways to the developing West now may be best known as the home of the National Quilt Museum.

Now lest quilt lovers see this as disparaging, let me assure you that such is not intended. Actually the museum is loaded with interest for those who craft quilts or have aspirations to, or simply appreciate creativity and manual craftsmanship in the high-tech era in which we live today. And oddly enough, the last reason for the hordes to descend on Paducah was the post World War II construction of the nearby atomic energy plant—truly the high tech attraction of its day.

The National Quilt Museum and its colorful contents can be viewed at any time of year but perhaps the best time is during the town party on the river each September; the party venue is adjacent to the Quilt Museum. The party is really one big and well attended barbeque fair, with masters of the cooking style competing for the blue ribbon and bragging rights.

The riverfront that in its heyday was a veritable beehive of shipping activity has taken on the new look of historical and cultural center. Boutiques that purvey antiques and many years out-of-date clothing are mini museums in themselves. Wandering through the stores along the waterfront and immediate streets is to re-live the history of the region. The old riverfront has been turned into a beautiful brick-paved park, with an array of murals depicting Paducah history painted on the concrete floodwalls panels that were built following the devastating 1937 flood.

Paducah’s history is tied to the waters, the two rivers that define the town boundaries, the flood that did a creditable job of destroying the town that year, but also the water recreation hotspots within an hour’s drive. Anyone in the region knows “The land Between The Lakes” –Barkley Lake to the east and Kentucky Lake on the west side of reclaimed lands that offer amenities and opportunities for hunting, fishing, and boating. The lands under and between the lakes were farms and settlements, all washed away when it became necessary to flood the lands with the advent of dams supporting the Tennessee valley Authority (TVA).

Paducah, Kentucky: The Lewis and Clark expedition first made note of it and announced it to the world, but it was part of the Civil War world, and has contributed to the world at large for a couple of centuries. And that floodwall, during World War II when floods again threatened the town, gates in the wall were manned by Italian prisoners of war, filling the gaps with the prescribed timbers and sandbags, and all the while laughing and joking with the local populace. Paducah was recognized by then as a township of the world, and not just a historic river port where the paddlewheels washed the shore with their wake. It’s worth a stopover when you’re in the region just to count the barges on the river, or make it a destination and take part in some cozy history of our expanding nation.

by Jamel DuBois

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